so how come it doesn't feel that way?
Bashir Lazhar at Tarragon
by Alex Rayment
Raoul Bhaneja as Bashir Lazhar
So I got to say - I love one man shows. It’s so blatantly obvious that this individual is going to talk to themselves for a hour and a half that there is no pretense otherwise which allows the audience to accept it quickly, move on and get wrapped up in the character. Bashir Lazhar by Tarragon Theatre is definately that kind of one man show.
After the first two minutes I had stopped caring about the props and lights and sound booth behind me and was completely involved in this tragic character in front of me. The half awkward, half pathetic, fully eager Mr. Lazhar (played by Raoul Bhaneja) has a strange way of making you respect him and feel sorry for him all in the same breath. He reminded me of Ol’ Gil Gunderson as an immigrant substitute teacher.
Tartuffe - East Side Players
by Dana Lacey
When, one by one, I asked my friends to come see East Side Player’s production of Tartuffe by Molière, I didn’t get one taker. Maybe they were scared off by the foreign title and powdered wigs, or were worried that Molière was too 16th-century to be entertaining.
Their loss.
Tartuffe, it turns out, is an insanely sarcastic satire that attacks just about everything you’d like to see attacked–hypocrites, government, dogma, patriarchs and, of course, the ignorant masses. The audience (mostly silver haired) got really into it, cheering as their favourite characters wandered onstage. Didn’t take long to realize why: after getting hit with the first zinger of the night, I didn’t stop laughing till the curtains fell.
Black Rider –Tarragon Theatre
by Megan Mooney
Just a forewarning… My laptop got stolen and it’s kind of knocked me off kilter (it’ so posting will be a bit more sporadic and may not be quite up to snuff. Hopefully I will be able to get a new laptop shortly. Now, on to the review…
The production of Black Rider at Tarragon Theatre is an incredible, and bizarre, show. And, really, it’s hard to expect anything else from a collaboration between William S. Burrows and Tom Waits. In fact, Scott, my show-partner for this one, described it as “a hilarious nightmare. I think it’s a pretty apt description actually. If I had been in a different headspace, or a kid, I would have been terrified.
[boxhead] - Buddies in Bad Times
By Alex Rayment
So have you ever wondered what would happen if you put an existential philosophy textbook, a handful of amphetamines and the witty banter that goes on in your head after staying up for 72 hours into a blender?
Yes?
Great - ’cause [boxhead] by Crow’s Theatre in association with Mammalian Diving Reflex at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is your answer.
Frost/Nixon – Canadian Stage Company
By Dana Lacey
Eavesdropping on theatre-goers at Canadian Stage Company’s presentation of Frost/Nixon made me feel incredibly young. People were asking each other where they were during what would turn out to be the most-watched interview ever, and I wasn’t even a fetus yet. Full disclosure: I was born in the 80s. I wasn’t around during most of television’s big-time events: Other than September 11th, I can’t think of a single time I’ve been really moved by something on television. Sometimes I’m jealous that I wasn’t anywhere when Kennedy was shot, and that I missed out on the paranoia-fuelled days of Watergate. Reality television didn’t centre around singing back then, but was just a tacky. Frost/Nixon captures that perfectly. Read the rest of this entry »
Congratulations Mr. MacIvor!
by Megan Mooney
If you’re not in the theatre industry then there’s a reasonable chance that you haven’t heard of the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. Which, really, is kind of a shame, ‘cause it’s a pretty cool prize. They awarded this year’s prize last night.
A quick description from their website:
The Siminovitch Prize in Theatre was introduced in 2001 and dedicated to renowned scientist Lou Siminovitch and his late wife Elinore, a playwright. Sponsored by BMO Financial Group, Canada’s largest annual theatre arts award recognizes direction, playwriting and design in three-year cycles
This year it was playwriting. And the award went to Daniel MacIvor – honestly, I’m not sure I could think of a more perfect person for it to go to.
The Great Gatsby: The Classical Theatre Project
By Ryan Oakley
I didn’t expect much from Classical Theatre Project’s interpretation of “The Great Gatsby.” I only hoped for good-looking actors clothed in high style. My hopes were low and they were wrong. The costumes were merely adequate and I was irritated by the length of Gatsby’s jacket sleeves throughout. But the play was well-executed by both cast and crew. More importantly, it made the right choices.
Teaser - Raisin in the Sun – Soulpepper
Okay, so, apparently I have entered some rift in space and time and have lost a couple days. So, this review is overdue, and, not yet done. But I don’t want you to miss out, because Soulpepper’s Raisin in the Sun is a great show. Leading to the quick teaser:
One way to see theatre for free in Toronto…
So, you may have noticed that whenever I write a review of a show there are two opinions, mine and that of another random person. The idea is to try and provide more than one perspective on the show.
Here’s the thing…
Wild Dogs - Nightwood Theatre
By Dana Lacey
It wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before. Wild Dogs is a set of monologues woven together, often competing with each other. The premise, straight from the playbill: “each evening at dusk, six people gather at the edge of the woods calling their dogs back–dogs that have turned wild.” Relationships bloom as the group battles loneliness and loss,
trying to understand why their dogs left them and just what it means to be wild.
The play is an adaption of Helen Humphreys’ novel, and fans can appreciate that all of the play’s dialogue is lifted directly from the book. The result? Not quite play, not quite book reading, Wild Dogs is simply staged poetry (”To be wild is to live by instincts, not imagination.”) It’ll make you uncomfortable in an eerie, I’m-learning-something-about-myself way.